Nursing bottle holder



Feb. 15,1944. H. HYAMS NURSING BOTTLE HOLDER Filed Sept. 29, 1943Patented Feb. 15, 1944 UNITED A'HES WENT orrlcs NURSING BOTTLE- HOLDERHerbert Hyams, Baldwin, N. Y.

Application September 29, 1943, Serial No. 504,202

I .4. Claims. (01. 248 -106) This invention relates to nursing bottleholders of the character employed for'supporting a nursing bottle whilean infant is bein fed. Nursing bottle holders are usually constructed invarious ways. Some of them are arranged to be attached to parts of thecribvand to adjustably hold a bottle in various positions to enable thechild to be fedtherefrom. Other devices are in the form of pads orsimilar supports'which are placed on the crib close to the child and onwhich are bottle is propped or otherwise-held to make it available tothe child.

The primary objection to the first type of hottle holder is that itrequires attachment to and detachment from parts of the crib, and italso usually has projecting parts likely to contact with and injure thechild. Any holders requiring precise adjustment of parts to position thebottle suitably, are invariably discarded because of the troubleinvolved in using them. An objection found in many of the types in thesecond group is the difficulty in holding the bottle at the properinclined or tilted position to enable the contents to be steadilywithdrawn by the feeding child.

The present invention belongs in the second class of device, in that itconstitutes a support which is placed on the crib close to the child andit holds the bottle available to the child. An object of the inventionis to provide, in a device of this character, means by which the bottlemay be tilted to enable the milk to be readily with drawn, and by whichthe degree of tilt or inclination of the bottle may be readily increasedas the milk is consumed.

Another object of the invention is to provide means by which theelevation of the nipple on the bottle from the surface of the bed can bemaintained as the degree of tilt of the bottle increases.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a simple, easilyoperated bottle holder which will hold the bottle at the proper positionto enable the child to easily receive the milk therefrom; which can bereadily adjusted as the milk is consumed so that the child can becomfortably fed with a minimum of eifort on the part of the mother ornurse.

In the accompanying drawing forming a part hereof, and in which anillustrative embodiment of the invention is shown, Fig. l is a verticalsectional View through a nursing bottle holder constructed in accordancewith the invention; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same, with a part insection to disclose construction; Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of theholder, and Fig. 4 is a front view of the same, with a part in section.

" The device may be made of any suitable material such as wood, metal,fibre board or other sheet material, and it is provided with a fiat basemember I on which it rests. The base member is preferably of substantialsize, relative'to the height of the holder, to thereby provide stabilityto the device. The bottom face of the base member I is preferablyprovided with a non-slip surfacing 2, such as felt or the like. Risingfrom the opposite side edges of the base I is a pair of verticallydisposed side walls 3 and 4 which con,- stitute supports and act tosupport an adjustable tray or bottle-holding cradle 5.

The cradle 5, on which the nursing bottle I5 is supported in the mannerindicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1, consists ofa substantially channel-'shaped member, having a bottom 5a, spaced side walls I, and a curvedfront piece 5. The size and shape of the cradle 5 is such as to enable-anursing bottle I5 to be placed fiatwisely upon it, and it will snuglyembrace the bottle, permitting the front end of the bottle and thenipple 20 thereon, to project sufilciently beyond the forward end 6 ofthe cradle to enable the infant to easily engage the nipple with hismouth. To securely hold the bottle in this position, an encircling strapor band It may be'provided, as shown in Figs. 1 and 4 (the band beinomitted from Fig. 3). Said strap or band l6, which extends across thebottle, may be permanently attached at one end, as indicated at H, tothe top of one of the side walls 1 of the cradle. The strap may beprovided at its other end with a fastening element l8 for engagementwith a complementary element located on top of the other side wall I.

Extending laterally from the opposite sides of the cradle 5 near itsforward end, is a pair of pins or studs 8, which are located invertically disposed grooves 9 provided in the inside faces of the sidwalls 3 and 4 of th holder. These pins 8 allow pivotal movement of thecradle within the grooves as well as vertical movement therein.

The base is provided with a centrall located, longitudinally extending,groove I0 constituting a guideway for a cradle-adjusting member ll. Saidmember ll causes raising and lowering movement of the cradle and it ismanually slidable in the groove Ill and is provided on its upp r edgewith a cam surface M which engages the underface of the bottom 5a of thecradle. Thus, when the adjusting member I I is engaged by the fingerpiece l2 and is manually slid along in the groove Ill toward the left,as viewed in Fig. 1. the surface M will tilt or incline the cradle 5 toany desired degree to accordingly hold the bottle [5 in the desiredtilted position. During this tilting movement of the cradle, the samewill pivot about the pivot pins 8.

:At its forward end, the adjusting member II is formed with a roundednose I3 constituting an elevating means for the cradle. That. is to say,when the adjusting member I I has been moved to such an extent as totilt the cradle and bottle supported by itto a considerable extent, thesurface l3 will come into contact with the 'underface of the cradlebottom 5a and it will bodily elevate the cradle, the pins 8 at this timemovin upwardly in the grooves 9.

Through this arrangement, the forward endv of the cradle, andconsequently the nipple end of the bottle held thereby, is preventedfrom being lowered to such an extent as to cause it to be difficult ofaccess by the feeding infant. Thus, while the bottle is tilted asrequired, it is also automatically elevated when a predetermined degreeof tilt of the bottle is reached.

. From the foregoing, the operation of the device will be readilyunderstood. It is placed upon the crib in such a position that thenipple will reach the childs mouth, the bottle being at first onlyslightly tilted.- As the-contents of the bottle are consumed, the motheror nurse will from time to time, increase the extent of tilt of thebottle by sliding the adjustin member H to the left, to

thus tilt the cradle and bottle upwardly in progressive fashion, As theadjusting member H continues to be pushed tothe left, the surface l3thereon will be finally brought into contact with the bottom of thecradle, thus raising the cradle bodily upward, to thereby keep thenipple end of the bottle sufficiently elevated from the surface of thebed to enable the nipple to be conveniently accessible to the infant. Bymeans of this arrangement, the desired tilt of the bottle, as Well asthe height of the nipple from the bed, can a-lways be maintained so thatthe child can be fed with only occasional attention from the mother.

The device is such that it can be made in various attractive andornamental forms and of numerous materials. Hence the embodiment shownis necessarily an. illustrative one, the invention contemplatingnumerous modifications within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

What I claim is':

1. A nursing bottle holder comprising, a base, spaced side membersarising from said base, a bottle-holding cradle pivotally mountedbetween the side members and capable of bodily rising movement betweensaid side members, a slidable adjusting member movable along the basebetween the side members, said adjusting member having an inclined upperface operative against the under face of the cradle to thereby pivotallyincline the cradle, said adjusting member also having a surfaceoperative against the under side of the cradle to bodily raise thecradle and the 'bottle held thereby when a predetermined angle of tilthas been reached by the cradle.

2..A nursing bottle holder comprising, a base, spaced side membersarising from said base, a cradle located between the side members, saidcradle having laterally extending pivot pins located near its forwardend, the side members having vertical grooves in which the pins arepivotal and are also vertically movable, and an adjusting slide movablebeneath the cradle for both pivotally adjusting the cradle and. also forelevating it vertically in said grooves.

3. A nursing bottle holder comprising, a base, spaced side membersarising from said base, a cradle located between the side members, saidcradle-having laterally extending pivot pins located near its forwardend, the side members having vertical grooves in which the pins arepivotal and are also vertically movable, a groove formed in the basebetween the side members, an adjusting slide manually movable in saidgroove, said slide having an upper surface operative againstthe underside of the cradle to'tilt the cradle to a desired angle, said slidealso having a lifting surface for bodily elevating the cradle and'thebottle held thereby when a predetermined angle; of inclination of thecradle is reached.

4. A nursing bottle holder comprising, a sup- .port, a pivotedbottle-holding cradle thereon, and a slide on the support having cammeans for increasing the angle of the cradle when the slide is manuallymoved, and having means for bodily raising the cradle when apredetermined angle or tilt of thecradle is reached. I

' HERBERT HYAMS.

